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Etihad Baggage on AA Redemption
Hello,
Last week I redeemed mileage with American Airlines for business class one way ZRH-AUH-HKG on Etihad. When reviewing the booking on Etihad.com, the ticket is issued, we have seats, but it shows no check-in baggage allowed. Their system also does not allow us to pay for checked baggage. Upon calling Etihad they informed us that they see our ticket but their system shows we have no check-in baggage allowed. They state that it’s an AA issued ticket and AA will need to resolve this. Having now spoken to three agents at AA and they all say we’re allowed two bags each up to 23kg each. We’re still at a point where in the Etihad system they show no luggage on our ticket, therefore I fear they will want to charge us for baggage at the check-in counter. The AA agent is not there to change things at the Etihad check-in counter. Has anyone run in to this and any suggestions on a resolution so we don’t have a surprise at check-in?
Maybe [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] knows of a liason between the airlines?
AA has a liaison desk they can call, but if you’re on a business class ticket, I can’t imagine that there is going to be an issue with checking bags.
A quick update, I spent over two hours on the phone with AA last night with several members of their customer group ultimately ending up with a Manager on Duty out of DFW. She did quite a bit of research, ultimately finding that for an AA redemption on Etihad, if neither the origin or destination is in US or Canada, the check-in baggage allowance with Etihad is zero. She was surprised by this and allowed us to rebook a new itinerary for our trip, but I wonder now if this information was correct and if anyone else has run into this?
I just booked my friend in Business from SYD to LHR in September. Checked baggage says zero with no way to pay. She is allowed 3 carryons (2 luggage and one personal) it looks like.
My husband and I are flying LHR – SYD in Feb 2020 in First and we each have a checked bag up to 50kg.
I really suspect this is just a system glitch, and that airport staff would know your baggage allowance on a premium cabin ticket. I know that’s not really reassuring, and it’s annoying that there doesn’t seem to be a way to address it ahead of time :/
[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 65575, member: 7″]I really suspect this is just a system glitch, and that airport staff would know your baggage allowance on a premium cabin ticket. I know that’s not really reassuring, and it’s annoying that there doesn’t seem to be a way to address it ahead of time :/[/QUOTE]
My suspicions as well! Luckily my friend is going to be good this time and fly with a carry on so it’s not a huge deal. I was just shocked that the baggage allowance for a premium product would be so low.
Looks like it’s not a system glitch…
[URL]https://old.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/comments/cwr4wv/booked_etihad_flight_from_maacdg_using_aadvantage/[/URL]
[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] [USER=4]@Lucky[/USER]
[QUOTE=”lmross, post: 66353, member: 5836″]Looks like it’s not a system glitch…
[URL]https://old.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/comments/cwr4wv/booked_etihad_flight_from_maacdg_using_aadvantage/[/URL][/QUOTE]
Agreed, great post find! Based on my discussions with AA this isn’t a system glitch but rather how Etihad awards book through AA miles when neither start nor end of the ticket are not in North America. An unfortunate issue that I don’t think is well advertised.
And again…
[URL]https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/1979278-baggage-allowance-aa-award-etihad-2.html[/URL]
“Had the same problem with DEL-MAN flight booked using AA miles in business class. When we checked in, we were forced to pay INR 128640 (usd 1800) to check in 2 bags totaling 50 kg. Daylight robbery. AA couldnt help. EY was absolutely unwilling to help. Had to fly, so no choice but to pay!”
[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] any thoughts on this??
Bonkers if true, but I have a lot of questions about that supposed experience…
[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 66561, member: 7″]Bonkers if true, but I have a lot of questions about that supposed experience…[/QUOTE]
There’s about 3 or 4 reports in the past month that I’ve seen with over $500 in baggage fees… I have a friend on a business class ticket from SYD – LHR (see above) and I’ve been talking to etihad about the cost to pay for a checked bag and they keep directing me to the online booking where I can’t pay for a checked bag (the system doesn’t allow it).
Seems to be totally true.
[QUOTE=”lmross, post: 66562, member: 5836″]Seems to be totally true.[/QUOTE]
Based on my experience (and those of many of our clients and readers who have checked bags on AA-issued award tickets over the past few years), I just think it’s a [B]big[/B] logical leap to go from “the call center sends me to the website, which isn’t programmed to properly deal with partner tickets” to “it seems totally true that someone was charged $1800 to check two bags on a business class itinerary.”
Etihad shows their baggage allowance here: [URL]https://www.etihad.com/en/fly-etihad/baggage[/URL]
Now, it’s possible that the poster had more or significantly heavier bags than they are claiming (they said 2 bags totaling 50 kg, but EY limits each bag to be under 32 kg within that allowance), and [I]that they incurred extra fees because of that[/I]. And it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that an outstation airport employee was confused about a policy, or overcharged for something.
But for people staying within the normal business class baggage allowance, I don’t see any indication (especially based on an anecdote from one person, with no posting history) that there would be any issues. We’ll see what we can find out, but people share anecdotes all the time that end up being misunderstood or otherwise inaccurate, so I’m naturally a bit skeptical when there is something like this that runs counter to the normal experience.
[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 66564, member: 7″]Based on my experience (and those of many of our clients and readers who have checked bags on AA-issued award tickets over the past few years), I just think it’s a [B]big[/B] logical leap to go from “the call center sends me to the website, which isn’t programmed to properly deal with partner tickets” to “it seems totally true that someone was charged $1800 to check two bags on a business class itinerary.”
Etihad shows their baggage allowance here: [URL]https://www.etihad.com/en/fly-etihad/baggage[/URL]
Now, it’s possible that the poster had more or significantly heavier than they are claiming (they said 2 bags totaling 50 kg, but EY limits each bag to be under 32 kg within that allowance), and [I]that they incurred extra fees because of that[/I]. And it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that an outstation airport employee was confused about a policy, or overcharged for something.
But for people staying within the normal business class baggage allowance, I don’t see any indication (especially based on an anecdote from one person, with no posting history) that there would be any issues. We’ll see what we can find out, but people share anecdotes all the time that end up being misunderstood or otherwise inaccurate, so I’m naturally a bit skeptical when there is something like this that runs counter to the normal experience.[/QUOTE]
Thanks Tiffany. Based on my discussions with the Manager on Duty at AA in DFW the experience of the recent post is in line with current AA/Etihad agreement for tickets that do not either start or end in North America. I was quoted USD 900 per bag at the airport price for an AA aware on Etihad in business class (23 kg bag), so their experience is right in line with what I was told by AA. This is also why AA allowed me to rebook. AA also confirmed that this is unique to business class awards on Etihad, the same would not apply to a First Class award. The information this Manager on Duty found was not in the standard location most agents would check (it took her over 45 minutes to find this) hence why most are not aware of this when booking.
[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 66564, member: 7″]Based on my experience (and those of many of our clients and readers who have checked bags on AA-issued award tickets over the past few years), I just think it’s a [B]big[/B] logical leap to go from “the call center sends me to the website, which isn’t programmed to properly deal with partner tickets” to “it seems totally true that someone was charged $1800 to check two bags on a business class itinerary.”
Etihad shows their baggage allowance here: [URL]https://www.etihad.com/en/fly-etihad/baggage[/URL]
Now, it’s possible that the poster had more or significantly heavier than they are claiming (they said 2 bags totaling 50 kg, but EY limits each bag to be under 32 kg within that allowance), and [I]that they incurred extra fees because of that[/I]. And it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that an outstation airport employee was confused about a policy, or overcharged for something.
But for people staying within the normal business class baggage allowance, I don’t see any indication (especially based on an anecdote from one person, with no posting history) that there would be any issues. We’ll see what we can find out, but people share anecdotes all the time that end up being misunderstood or otherwise inaccurate, so I’m naturally a bit skeptical when there is something like this that runs counter to the normal experience.[/QUOTE]
$1800 is the highest I’ve seen but I’ve also seen $900
[URL]https://old.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/comments/cwr4wv/booked_etihad_flight_from_maacdg_using_aadvantage/[/URL]
He posts a picture on a twitter thread on the receipt which shows the $900.
Additionally, earlier in the flyertalk thread I posted there are other posters who have ran into the same issue. If it were a one time thing why is this thread months old??
I DMed Etihad regarding the PNR I booked for my friend in business and this is the response:
“I have checked your booking and it’s issued by American Airlines. If you like to bring excess baggage you can book this only at the airport. *Isi”
So it seems they are classifying any checked luggage as excess baggage.
[QUOTE=”lmross, post: 66569, member: 5836″]So it seems they are classifying any checked luggage as excess baggage.[/QUOTE]
Something definitely wrong there then.
[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 66576, member: 7″]Something definitely wrong there then.[/QUOTE]
I got a response on the cost from Etihad (I attached it also as well). Here is the convo:
Etihad: I have checked your booking and it’s issued by American Airlines. If you like to bring excess baggage you can book this only at the airport. *Isi
Me: What is the cost at the airport?
Etihad: You can check [URL=’https://t.co/BQGkxnLd7q?amp=1′]http://bit.ly/EYExcessBaggage[/URL] for the discounted charges and calculate 20 % on top of it. *Isi
Me: It won’t let me do that on my PNR
Etihad: Tell me how much kg you like to bring extra. *Isi
Me: I just want to check a 23kg bag. 1 bag checked total
Etihad: If you bring 25 kg, it would cost around 900 USD. *Isi
There’s a thread (well a couple) over on Flyertalk in the AA forums about this. Folks are definitely being charged by EY when they are *not* in Excess Baggage. However, I didn’t re-read the thread after seeing the originating/destination caveat recently found either.
Supposedly if AA properly endorses the baggage, you’re good.
Moral of the story, don’t check a bag :rolleyes::cool:
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